Let’s talk about work ethic. As any other aspect in your value system, this is probably something you have learnt at home growing up rather than at school. And it governs how you feel about your work value, and how you hold yourself accountable to high standards for what you produce even if you’re not closely supervised.
And it is something that many people lack. Why?
First because it is easy to get by with mediocre, or even bare-minimum work. Many employers won’t fire you for just doing the job duties with an acceptable level of errors. Many employers even would still keep you on the payroll through several warnings — and try to work with you. Poor performance can often be attributed to lack of training or experience.
But is that where you want to position yourself? Because if you do voluntarily, you would be walking on thin ice. Anytime, your credit might run out and you get fired. And even worse, you’d simply have no chance for advancement or promotion — two things that could help you feel more fulfilled in the long run.
Second, many people won’t even realise that their work ethic is lacking. Again it is part of your value system. And it is not a matter of black and white. Having said that, people with a strong work ethic often stand out. They are the people who don’t just work hard, but they go an extra mile into making sure the work is done correctly and at a higher level of quality.
These valued members of any organisation are likely to be keepers. Not each one of them will be picked for a manager position or a leadership role, but they will be the ones that provide stability in each department and eventually more likely to be picked for advancement opportunities.
So if you’re ready to go through a quick reality check, ask yourself the following questions.
How much do I care?
Doing a good job while you don’t care about the work you do isn’t impossible, but it is hard. You don’t have to love your job — some jobs are not lovable — but do you care about the quality of your work. Do take something boring like data entry. If you care about your work, you probably will have a procedure for tracking and correcting errors. You also will have some interest in reducing errors over time.
On a much bigger scale, do you care about what goes on around you. If asked, do you step in to train a new hire to make sure they are up to speed on their tasks? Do you point out areas of potential improvement that can help everyone raise the bar?
If your answer is no, and if you only do what you’re expected to do and don’t care about the result, your work ethics need a second look. Working in a team requires the collaboration and input of everyone, when people consciously opt out of collaboration, they could be undermining the collect interest of their team.
What are my goals and benchmarks?
If you measure your success, you should be able to track your goals and set benchmarks to know if you’re progressing toward them or not. Holding yourself accountable is one way to ensure that you are doing the best work you could do. When you have your sights on an end goal, you also will be able to find efficiencies that help you get there sooners.
This mindset is different from someone who spends work days either bored and looking forward to the end of the work day or wasting time and efforts to kill time. Your efforts will contribute to your company’s overall goals as well as your own professional growth. On a more moral level, you should be able to take more pride in your work.
The bottom line: having good work ethic — just like doing the right thing — can help you get ahead in life for most of the time. It involves more hard work, but it does pay off.
The writer, a former Gulf News Business Features Editor, is a Seattle-based editor.
Adopting good work ethic
You will stand out and shine
You will get a better chance for advancement
You should feel prouder of your work
You will be able to track your professional progress yourself
R.O.
